"Show Eli! Show Eli!" Leon was pulling her to Elijah and Sillie who were sitting on the swings. The swings became the new meet point for the four of them.

Cecilia had been on the Human World for a month now and Christmas was around the corner.

Leon's father was going to be home for the holiday and him and his mother agreed that spending Christmas at the Valiant's would be best.

Cecilia had won over all the Friends at the entire school, not just the Friends of the four year old humans. She had made her network of intel large and spread out yet had not gathered a lot of information out of the ordinary. She was quickly adding black stripes to her outfit and had twenty three in total, at the moment. The amount of sins in the area was astonishing, but there had been no sightings of demons.

She had discovered where the nearest pocket of the Shadow World was.

"Show me what?" Elijah smiled as Cecilia and Leon were closer to the swings.

"Good morning, Sillie," Cecilia greeted the girl on the swings, trying to ignore Elijah.

"Hey, Sillie!" Leon said.

"Hello," she smiled.

"You have to show me now," Elijah whined. 

Cecilia should not have shown Leon her shapeshifting power. It was something she did not like a lot of people knowing. He was sadder than usual that morning but she did not know why. She asked him what his favorite breed of animal was and when he said "poodle", she shape shifted into a puppy. This worked in cheering him up but now he wanted to tell everyone.

Cecilia sighed and closed her eyes. She felt her body shrinking, and her skin started tingling. When she opened her eyes again, the world around her was huge.

"You're a puppy!" Elijah bent down and picked her up.

"Put. Me. Down," she growled.

"But you look so cute," he said. He rubbed his nose on hers. She was tempted to bite him but they both knew that she could not with Leon watching.

"She's a poodle!" Leon said.

"I see," Elijah placed her on the ground and she grew back to her original form. She rubbed her nose dramatically.

"Come inside, children!" A teacher yelled from the doors.

"Bye!" Leon took Sillie's hand and helped her off the swings.

"Bye!" Sillie followed Leon.

Cecilia and Elijah waved goodbye. When the children were inside the building, Elijah motioned to the swing. Cecilia sat down and Elijah started pushing her.

"You didn't tell me you were a shapeshifter," he said. She looked forward at the school and saw Leon take his seat near the window.

She could feel his hand touch her bare shoulders, sending goosebumps across her body.

"I don't tell a lot of people," she said.

"I have to admit that I'm a little hurt. I tell you everything," he said.

That part did seem to be true, Elijah was always talking.

"The focus needed to keep a perfect image in shapeshifting is very difficult," Elijah said, "every time you shape shift, you need to pay attention to every little detail. There was nothing wrong with the poodle. If I had not seen you transform, I would have believed it was a real."

Cecilia kept her eyes on Leon. When she did not know how to reply to people, she simply did not talk.

"Cecilia," Elijah said after he realized she was not going to give him a response. He stopped pushing her and walked in front of her. She was still moving forward and her knees bumped into his legs. He pushed her knees apart and stepped closer to her. He grabbed her hands over the chains and brought her to a stop.

Cecilia tried moving her hands but he would not let go of her. His grip was firm but not bruising her.

He lowered his head so he could whisper in her ear, "I've been patient with you, Cecilia Purple, but at some point you're going to have to open up to me."

Her skin was tingling again, but she was not shapeshifting. Her heart beat was pounding, but she was not moving. She felt sweat gathering on her palms, but it was not hot outside. She did know why her body was behaving this way but did not want to believe it.

"Step away before anyone sees you," she said in a shaky voice.

She heard him chuckle and felt a light kiss below her ear.

She was completely frozen and had no idea what to do.

He then stepped away, "too sexual for you?"

The look in his eyes was too intense with desire for her to look him directly in the eyes. It was the first time she could remember not being able to maintain eye contact.

She stood from the swings, stared at the ground, and walked away.

"Cecilia! Wait! I'm sorry!" she heard him yell after her.

She stopped walking. She was being foolish, she could not walk away from Leon.

Elijah grabbed her hand and she turned around. The look in his eyes were completely different.

"I don't know what came over me," he said.

She kept looking at him, searching for something on his face. What that something was, she did not know. She snatched her hand away when near the swings she saw the forming of a sin, a goat. It was lust, a low level.

"Look at what you attracted," she walked past him, her shoulder bumping into him. The bracelet on her right wrist melted and then formed into a sword.

Lust belted and started running towards her. It lowered his head and attempted ramming it's twisted horns into her but she easily dodged and swung her sword, cutting it's head off.

The sword formed into a bracelet again and the dead body of the goat started disappearing. A black line started forming on her right boot. Twenty four.

She looked at the window where Leon was and he was looking forward at the teacher. He did not see.

She glared at Elijah, "Don't let it happen again."

Elijah looked down at the ground, "It won't. I am sorry."

"The sins are everywhere," Cecilia thought out loud, "why?"

"We have been noticing that, too," Elijah said.

"Guys!" Nikki Blue was running up to them, "Guys!"

Elijah and Cecilia turned around.

"I saw your brother, Cece," Nikki Blue said.

"What?" Cecilia did not know why her brother would be at the school.

"There you are, Cecilia. I need to talk to you," her brother suddenly appeared behind her. Multiple versions of himself blurred back to him and his body vibrated until being still again. He must have sent out clones of himself to search the school for her. The way they made clones were different.

Cecilia used the swirls on her arms, which are saved up energy, to make her clones. Her brother used copies directly from himself.

"Leave us," Johnathan looked at Nikki and Elijah. They stayed where they were standing and looked at Cecilia. Cecilia nodded her head.

"Ugh. Fine," Nikki said annoyed as she walked away. Elijah said nothing as he followed her.

"What is it?" Cecilia asked as the two of them were alone.

"Do you know an 'Evangeline Green'?" Johnathan asked.

Cecilia crossed her arms and nodded her head, "why?"

"I've had some informants tell me she has been visiting the Shadow World," Johnathan said, "since she was on your side of the city, I thought I would ask if you knew anything about it. You do know about it right? It would be a big miss of judgment if you did not."

"She was the one who informed me where the pockets of Shadow World were located in this city. She goes there as a spy," Cecilia said.

"How does she do that?" Johnathan asked.

She knew he was trying to find all the details about the story. She would have done the same if the roles were reversed.

"She finds a low leveled sin, shrinks herself to the size of a flea, and rides it into the Shadow World and observes what she sees. Leader Gerald Green sends her on these missions himself," she said.

"Leader Gerald Green, huh?" Johnathan had his arms crossed now.

"Yes," Cecilia said.

"How can we know for sure that she reports everything she sees," Johnathan said.

"I've thought of that myself," Cecilia said, "I've been planning to go with her the next time she goes but she does not know when that will be."

"Do you trust her?" Johnathan asked.

"No," Cecilia answered the question easily.

"Why not?"

"I dont trust anyone here."

"Even those two that were just here? I saw Nikki Blue and she was with another Blue."

"Do you not know the other Blue?"

"No."

"Neither did I when I first came here."

"Is there suspicion with him?"

"No. I was just asking."

"You never 'just ask'."

"He is the Friend to my child's best friend. His name is Elijah Blue."

"Do you want me to find out information about him?"

"If you can."

"I will see what I can do."

"Thank you."

There was a moment of silence and Cecilia turned around to check on Leon. He was still sitting, paying attention to class.

"Is that him in the window?" Johnathan asked.

"Yes," she said.

"I have a five year old girl," Johnathan said.

"What is her name?"

"Lily."

Cecilia looked up at him and saw him smiling as he was thinking about her.

"She is so pure and always happy. The Human World would be a better place if they never lost their innocence," he said.

"I agree with you, onii-chan," Cecilia said, "it is too bad that humans must lose their innocence at some point. It is just the way the World works."

Johnathan sighed, "I know."

"John?"

"Yes?"

"Did we just have small talk?"

He smiled and shook his head, "I guess so."

"I liked it."

"So did I, Cecilia. So did I."

"How is Father?"

She could sense the atmosphere go back to being serious.

"You know how he is. He thinks I am taking too long in finding the cause of rise of sins," Johnathan was tense again.

"It is hard to investigate when you have to keep a child protected," Cecilia said.

"And who was the one who suggested doing so?" Johnathan looked at her.

"It was the only compromise, at the time," Cecilia said.

"Mhm."

"Stop it, Johnathan. You weren't there."

"I know I wasn't. I would have come up with a better solution."

"And what is that?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Johnathan!"

"Cecilia!"

"...Johnathan...we just acted like siblings," Cecilia took a step back.

"You're right," Johnathan looked confused, too.

When she was younger, this was all she ever wanted with Johnathan. She stepped closer to him.

"Can I hug you?" she asked him.

"Why are you asking?" he looked awkward.

"Because we've never hugged before," Cecilia said, "and I don't want to startle you."

For the first time, she heard him laugh. It was a big laugh that demanded to be heard. He stepped closer to her and picked her up in a bear hug.

"Johnathan!" Cecilia squealed as she was lifted in the air, "what has Lily done to you?"

Johnathan continued laughing and Cecilia joined him. She wrapped her arms around him and placed her cheek on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She wanted to save this memory with her forever.

She realized that Johnathan was not going to let go until she made the effort to. That was one of the tips Friends used with their children. When they hug their child, they never let go first.

She squeezed him lightly before letting go, "you probably can't stay long, huh?"

"No. I just came to talk to you. If something happens, I'll get in contact with you," he said, "oh, right, actually there was one more thing. I want you to start calling me Nate."

"Nate?" he asked.

"Short for Nathan, which is short for Johnathan."

"Why the sudden name change?"

"I want to put some separation from Father and I."

"Oh...I see...How long do you have until you have to return to your original body?" she asked.

"Forty seconds," he said.

"So we stopped hugging just in time?" she asked.

"I would have sent more energy to this clone if you were still hugging me," he said.

Cecilia wanted to jump on him and hug him again but she stayed where she was. She instead smiled and nodded her head.

"It was nice seeing you, Nate," she said.

He started fading, "Keep focused, Cecilia."

"You, too, Brother," Cecilia bowed her head.

Before Nate completely disappeared, he bowed his head.

Cecilia hugged herself and looked at the ground. Nate had changed, and more than just his name. He changed for the better. She looked at Leon. He was raising his hand excitedly. Had she changed any, too? She did not know.

She saw Elijah's name appear in her vision.

From Elijah.

Can we come back now?

She did not want to see him at the moment. What he had done was shocking and came out of nowhere. She could not run away from the situation, however.

Text Elijah.

Yes.

Send. 

She walked back to the swings and sat down.

Elijah and Nikki came around the corner of the building and were soon in front of her.

"So how did it go?" Nikki could hardly control herself, "Tell me, pleaseeeee."

"He just wanted to know how I was doing," Cecilia said.

"Boring," she pouted.

She knew Elijah was looking at her and she knew that he guessed she was not telling the truth.

"I don't know what you were expecting," Cecilia said.

Nikki sat down on the swing next to her, "something more exciting. That's for sure."

"Sorry to disappoint," Cecilia said.